Just do it!

Years ago, before I had written my first book, I saw a movie entitled, "Throw Mama From The Train." The film starred Billy Crystal. Crystal's character was an instructor at a community college teaching creative writing. At the end of his classes, he would close the session with the line, "...and remember, a writer writes."

Not long ago, I had opportunity to read a book entitled, "How to Run Seminars & Workshops: Presentation Skills for Consultants, Trainers and Teachers." I read a comment in the book, that paraphrased, stated that outlining is not writing, talking about writing is not writing, only writing is writing. This holds true for investigators in two different ways.

First, an investigator cannot complete an investigation without the appropriate activity taking place. An investigator, investigates. It doesn't matter if you are a Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt, an investigator using Root Cause Analysis, or any other methodology. Nothing happens until you start investigating.

Second, an investigator writes. all the investigation in the world is meaningless for others to learn from, unless, the investigation, and the results of the investigation are documented. Furthermore, many organizations require approval of the investigation from many different functions, as well as different layers of management in the organizational structure, requiring a technical document describing the investigation and it's results. An investigator writes.

What does one do if they don't really like to write? An investigator, investigates. An investigator writes. To quote a Nike ad that will be easily remembered...

"Just do it!"